THE  TEACHERS'  INSTITUTE 

OF  THE  HEBREW  UNION  COLLEGE, 

CINCINNATI 


HE  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL 


OUTLINE  OF  LESSONS  FOR  TEACHERS 

BY 
RABBI  LOUIS  GROSSMANN,  D.  D. 

PRINCIPAL  OF  THE  TEACHERS'   INSTITUTE 


-pn 


CINCINNATI 

THE  TEACHERS'  INSTITUTE  OF  THE  HEBREW  UNION  COLLEGE 

1914 


THE  TEACHERS7  INSTITUTE 

OF  THE  HEBREW  UNION  COLLEGE, 

CINCINNATI 


THE  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL 

OUTLINE  OF  LESSONS  FOR  TEACHERS 

BY 

RABBI  LOUIS  GROSSMANN,  D.  D. 

PRINCIPAL,  OF  THE  TEACHERS'   INSTITUTE 


im  *z-y  -ly:?  -pn 


CINCINNATI 
THE  TEACHERS'  INSTITUTE  OF  THE  HEBREW  UNION  COLLEGE 

1914 


PREFACE. 

THESE  Outlines  are  designed  for  teachers 
in  Jewish  Religious  Schools.  They  are 
suggestions  as  to  the  aims  which  the 
teachers  should  have  in  the  presentation  of  the 
lessons  on  Hanukkah. 

The  chief  condition  for  a  correctly  con- 
structed lesson  is  that  it  be  clear  in  purpose. 
Our  schools  would  be  more  effective  and  the 
pupils  would  take  a  heartier  share  in  the  work, 
if  it  were  made  definite  for  them. 

In  view  of  the  principle  that  Religious  Edu- 
cation must  proceed  on  the  same  lines  as  Secu- 
lar Education  (a  principle  which  I  wish  to 
maintain  most  emphatically)  the  Grades 
designated  in  these  Lessons  are  Grades  of  the 
Public  School.  The  classes  in  the  Religious 
School  should  always  go  parallel  with  the  same 
classes  of  the  Public  School. 

There  must  be  unity  in  the  child's  educa- 
tional life.  This  unity  enables  teachers  of  both 
kinds  of  schools  to  see  that  they  have  an  equal 
bearing  upon  the  child's  development  and  gives 
to  the  child  an  equal  valuation  and  respect  for 
both.  We  shall  have  clearness  in  Religious 


2097080 


PREFACE. 

Education  just  as  soon  as  we  shall  have  given 
it  the  relation  it  ought  to  have  with  general 
education. 

These  Lessons  on  Hanukkah  follow  the 
periods  of  growth  of  the  child  in  the  direction 
of  responsibility,  loyalty,  and  character,  with 
the  aim  to  enlighten,  cultivate  and  strengthen 
them.  The  story  and  tradition  on  which  the 
Hanukkah  festival  is  based  not  only  fascinate 
Jewish  children,  but  also  will  always  be  dear 
to  Jewish  men  and  women. 

Louis  GROSSMANN. 
CINCINNATI,  Oct.  1,  1914. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction ; ^  . .     5 

Grades  One  and  Two 13 

Grades  Three  and  Four 18 

Grades  Five  and  Six 22 

Grades  Seven  and  Eight 25 

The  Adolescent  Class 31 

References   33 

"Benedictions"  35 


LESSONS  OF  THE 
HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 


INTRODUCTION. 

THE  usual  lesson-content  of  Hanukkah  is 
Patriotism. 

But  that  is  intelligible  and  practicable  with 
pupils  of  an  advanced  age  only. 

Patriotism  is  a  social  feeling  of  a  developed 
character. 

The  Festival  is  also  made  to  yield  the  lesson 
of  Loyalty  to  Faith. 

But  Faith  is  an  abstraction  which  children 
can  neither  grasp  nor  hold. 

Children  are  not  able  to  think  so  abstract  a 
subject  as  Faith  and  can  have  no  strong  feel- 
ings about  it. 

Both  interpretations  mean  nothing  unless 
they  appeal  to  will-power. 

Patriotism  and  Loyalty  to  Faith  are  adult- 
qualities  for  which  children  have  merely  rudi- 
mentary capacities. 

If  Hanukkah  is  a  Children's  Holiday,  it 
must  have  a  child-significance. 

It  must,  by  the  interpretation  of  the  teacher, 
make  a  contribution  toward  the  religious  and 
moral  growth  of  the  child. 


6  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.    , 

All  Children's  Holidays  must  have  educa-. 
tional  significance. 

And  in  each  grade  of  the  school-life  it  must 
get  a  distinctive  interpretation. 

A  holiday  too  is  a  lesson,  a  lesson  addressed 
to  the  type  of  child-life  represented  in  the  class. 

We  must  adjust  our  treatment  to  the  child- 
hood we  deal  with.  Each  grade  must  be  con- 
sidered with  relevance  to  the  demand  it  has 
for  moral  and  religious  growth. 

If  we  treat  Hanukkah  as  a  mere  entertain-* 
ment,  we  despoil  it  of  its  significance.  For 
everything  in  the  School  must  have  educational 
value,  or  else  it  should  have  no  place  in  it. 

And  a  lesson  must  be  presented  from  the 
point  of  view  of  the  needs  of  the  child  for  which 
it  is  meant,  or  else  it  is  irrelevant  and  futile. 

It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  Hanuk- 
kah Festival  is  a  Winter  Festival. 

Perhaps  it  was  that  already  in  its  origin. 

At  any  rate,  it  is  celebrated,  at  least  so  far  as 
town-life  is  concerned,  when  the  season  of 
winter  is  at  its  height. 

This  co-incidence  of  the  religious  with  the 
seasonal  aspect  of  the  holiday  is  far  from  un- 
welcome. A  connection  can  be  made  between 
the  religious  and  the  natural  facts  of  life.  And 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  7 

Religion  can  be  shown  to  have  direct  bearing 
upon  every-day-life. 

It  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  we  can 
best  meet  the  embarrassment  we  have  as  to  the 
competition  between  Hanukkah  and  Christ- 
mas. 

Teachers  have  laid  too  much  stress  on  the 
historical  import  of  Hanukkah  and  not  enough 
on  the  seasonal.  Much  is  said  of  the  Re-dedi- 
cation of  the  Temple  and  not  enough  of  the 
Regeneration  of  Life. 

The  teacher  should  make  clear  the  religious 
significance  of  Winter,  the  forethought  of  God, 
as  it  were,  for  the  preservation  of  life. 

He  should  help  give  the  children  a  religious 
adjustment  to  the  experiences  of  winter.  Its 
cold  should  acquire  a  right  significance.  Our 
urban  ways  of  living  have  made  us  undervalue 
much  that  is  legitimate  and  necessary  in  our 
contact  with  Nature. 

The  "exchange  of  gifts"  associated  with  the 
Hanukkah  was  originally  an  intimation  of  the 
limitations  due  to  winter  restraints  and  winter 
hardships  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  "charity." 

To  children  surely  the  seasonal  relations 
have  a  direct  import,  and  they  have  also  a  more 
personal  appeal  than  the  historical. 

Winter  also  is  the  busiest  season  for  chil- 


8  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

dren,  as  it  is  for  most  people  nowadays.  The 
"cozy  home"  is  really  a  winter  home.  And 
school-life  is  in  the  main  winter-life.  Spring 
and  autumn  are  mere  "ends"  of  it.  There  is 
need  for  lessons  on  the  moral  and  religious 
significance  of  Winter.  And  the  Hanukkah 
offers  it. 

Light  is  a  winter  symbol.  The  Good  is 
inextinguishable.  It  overcomes  everything  that 
is  hostile  to  it.  The  things  that  are  bad  must 
go.  The  Good  remains. 

Here  we  have  an  opportunity  to  establish 
confidence  in  Nature,  in  the  World,  in  God. 
Not  a  philosophic  confidence,  but  a  child-trust, 
a  happy  confidence. 

The  Lights  of  the  Hanukkah  Festival  are 
symbolic.  But  religious  symbolism  should 
have  nothing  to  do  with  pedagogy.  A  symbol 
contains  no  educational  influence.  Not  only 
because  it  is  mystic,  but  also  because  it  gets 
its  significance  from  the  theological  side  with 
which  child-life  is  not  occupied.  But  the  sym- 
bol may  be  regarded  as  a  form  of  poetry  and 
its  subject  is  a  fact  of  Nature,  and  that  child- 
hood understands  and  loves.  The  subtle 
appeal  of  Christmas  is  not  in  its  theology,  but 
in  the  poetry  of  Winter  which  it  implies.  In- 
terest in  nature  is  primordial  and  the  very 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  9 

backbone  of  religious  feeling.  It  may  be  that 
we  Jews  have  neglected  it.  We  have  been  so 
metaphysical  about  our  faith.  But  real  life 
wants  to  be  near  to  the  All-life. 

If  we  want  to  meet  the  tempting  poetry  of  the 
Christmas  week,  we  must  compete  with  it  not 
with  "entertainments"  but  with  the  same 
poetry  which  makes  it  fascinating  to  the 
child-soul.  We  must  restore  romance  and  folk- 
lore to  the  heart  of  Jewish  childhood.  The  fear 
that  it  will  paganize  the  children  is  hardly  a 
compliment  to  the  sanity  and  the  clarity  which 
we  claim  for  them  and  for  ourselves.  One  of 
the  vulnerable  points  in  Jewish  life  is  its  lack 
of  romance.  Our  spirituality  is  dry.  Unless 
we  give  buoyancy  to  our  children  when  they 
crave  it  at  our  hands,  they  will  seek  it  in  novels 
and  theaters  where  it  is  rampant  and  spurious. 

Ours  is  the  time  for  thoughtful  training  of 
this  phase  of  human  nature  in  our  children. 
Their  parents  are  impotent  to  respond  to  it,  for 
they  have  come  out  of  the  sordid  Ghetto.  Our 
children  must  get  a  fresher  intimacy  with 
Nature  and  the  beauties  of  life.  They  must 
learn  again  the  legends  of  old  and  feel  the 
sweet  dreads  and  the  haunting  loves  that  make 
everything  divine. 

The   Hanukkah    Festival    signalizes    some- 


10  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

thing  better  than  a  war  and  something  other 
than  an  obstinacy  to  a  creed.  It  signalizes 
that  life  can  be  maintained,  even  in  the  face  of 
death.  By  man  against  wrong,  as  against 
death  by  God.  God  prepares  the  miracle  of 
resurrection  at  the  end  of  autumn  as  He  holds 
His  warm  hand  over  bud  and  blossom  to  save 
them  against  the  cold  blasts.  Watch  any  twig. 
Just  as  there  was  a  resurrection  of  the  Jewish 
people,  as  in  the  Hanukkah  story;  just  so  ther? 
is  regeneration  of  trees  and  of  plants  and  the 
farms  from  beneath  snow  and  ice.  But  this 
does  not  mean  that  the  teacher  should  talk 
science.  As  little  as  he  should  talk  theology. 
He  should  give  suggestions  by  way  of  nature- 
legends,  and  by  legends  that  reflect  "rescues" 
in  human  experiences.  Legends  are  child- 
science  and  they  are  also  child-theologies. 

There  is  some  folk-lore  in  the  Hanukkah 
Story.  And  it  is  meant  for  Jewish  childhood. 

The  legend  of  the  Cruse  of  Oil.  It  points 
the  lesson  that  each  home  has  a  hidden  good. 
It  is  the  love  that  children  and  parents  have 
for  one  another.  Or  the  confidence  or  the 
loyalty  or  trust  in  God.  They  share  in  the 
noble  interests.  These  refine,  strengthen  and 
unite  us. 

The  story  of  Hannah  and  her  sons,  provided 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  11 

it  is  cleared  of  the  gruesome,  and  made  sweet, 
has  its  point,  not  in  an  exaggerated  stiffness  as 
to  creed,  but  in  the  love  of  a  mother  and  of 
children  for  her,  in  spite  of  a  bad  man.  The 
motive  is  frequent  in  child-stories.  The  Jewish 
version  brings  in  God,  while  the  others  do  not. 

And  many  of  the  episodes  of  the  Maccab- 
bean  story  can  be  given  the  right  turn  for  reli- 
gious pedagogy,  if  the  teacher  has  psychological 
insight  and  tact.  And  especially  if  he  uses 
imagination.  Imagination  too  is  true,  since  it 
gives  value  to  facts,  moral  value. 

Even  the  progressive  increase  of  the  Lights 
of  the  Hanukkah  Week  should  be  employed  as 
the  basis  for  a  lesson,  touched  by  folk-lore 
sense. 

Once  upon  a  time  some  men  went  into  the 
Temple.  It  was  dark,  for  bad  men  had  put 
out  the  light.  And  the  men  did  not  like  it.  For 
they  knew  God  loves  the  Light  and  they 
wanted  to  make  the  Temple  cheerful,  just  as 
their  hearts  were.  And  one  of  the  men  said: 
"I  am  going  to  light  a  taper  and  find  my  way 
and  when  God  sees  me,  He  will  say  to  me: 
Thou  hast  done  well.' '  And  he  lit  his  taper 
and  the  men  stood  at  the  distance,  as  he  went 
forward  to  where  the  Great  Altar  stood.  And 
some  said:  "I  think  I  hear  God,  I  hear  Him 


12  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

speak."  But  the  others  shook  their  heads  and 
would  not  go  forward  to  where  the  first  man 
had  gone.  But,  as  they  stood  there  and  could 
not  take  heart,  one  of  them  took  a  taper 
and  started  off  after  the  voice  he  thought  he 
had  heard.  And  soon  the  men  saw  two  stand- 
ing before  the  Altar  of  God.  And  then,  one 
more,  seeing  two  tapers  burning,  left  those  that 
were  in  the  rear  hesitating  what  to  do,  and 
went  after  the  Light  as  he  saw  it  in  the  dist- 
ance, and  lo,  there  he  stood  beside  them."  And 
so  you  can  complete  the  picture.  Till  when 
they  all  stood  there,  a  brave  and  loyal  line  of 
men,  there  was  a  great  glow  of  light  upon  the 
Altar.  This  is  the  religious  interpretation. 

But  it  can  have  a  domestic  interpretation. 
Through  a  difference  of  version.  How  father 
brightens  the  Home,  how  mother  does  it  in  her 
way  and  how  the  boy  does,  and  the  girl.  But 
do  not  make  the  "moral"  obtrusive.  The  force, 
and  the  natural  effectiveness  of  folk-lore  lies 
in  the  fact  that  its  "moral"  is  subtle  and  mere 
intimation.  In  a  similar  manner  all  the  other 
tales  can  be  utilized.  Invest  them  with  the 
warmth  of  your  imagination.  History  becomes 
real  to  children  through  the  graphic  suggestive- 
ness  of  imagination.  And  History  becomes  a 
moral  influence  only  by  that  manner  of  treat- 
ment, because  it  reassumes  life. 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  13 


GRADES  ONE  AND  TWO. 

There  can  be  no  such  thing  as  an  abstract 
meaning  in  a  subject  taught  to  children.  A 
subject  is  designated  for  definite  ends  of  educa- 
tion and  addressed  to  children  with  definite 
needs.  The  teacher  must  get  hold  of  the  educa- 
tional task  with  a  clear  purpose  to  help  child- 
hood in  its  process  of  growth.  Every  phase  of 
child-experience  contributes  to  that,  whether 
it  be  a  casual  home-experience,  or  a  devised 
school-experience. 

A  child  is  never  out  of  school,  we  might  say, 
never  outside  of  influence.  Its  play  is  a  dis- 
cipline no  less  than  its  school-life,  and  the 
week-day  exercise  and  the  holiday  are  equally 
moral  influences.  In  the  so-called  Kindergar- 
ten age,  therefore,  where  there  is  no  rigidity 
and  formality  in  instruction,  the  traditional 
conception  of  holiday  has  neither  point  nor 
application.  Every  day  is  a  holiday  and  a  free 
day,  and  everything  the  child  does  is  play  and 
not  "work."  In  fact,  play  is  work  and  work  is 
play.  But  play  is  an  anticipation  of  work  and 
work  is  a  suggestion  of  cheerful  and  happy 
employment  out  of  which  joy  and  contentment 
will  come. 


14  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

The  fundamental  purposes  of  the  Kinder- 
garten are  to  supply  to  the  town-child  the 
knowledge  and  the  love  of  Nature  and  of  na- 
tural Life  which  urban  life  fails  to  give,  and  to 
develop  natural  sense-capacities  for  which  the 
same  urban  life  affords  no  opportunity.  Both 
these  have  no  direct  bearing  upon  the  speci- 
fically moral  and  religious  discipline  which  the 
Religious  School  pursues.  Though  it  is  evident 
that  there  can  be  no  genuine  morality  and  no 
real  "love"  and  "awe"  of  God  unless  enlight- 
ened and  warmed  by  an  intimacy  with  God's 
World.  The  Kindergarten,  we  may  say,  lays 
the  foundations  of  those  virtues  which  we  ex- 
press by  the  terms  "confidence  in  God"  and 
"Hope."  The  more  intimately  children  feel 
themselves  related  to  all  that  passes  on  about 
them  and  the  surer  they  are  that  all  things  are 
correct  and  reliable,  the  more  positive  will  be 
their  "faith."  It  is  lack  of  definite  knowledge 
of  the  essentials  of  life  and  a  lack  of  certain  in- 
formation and  enlightenment  regarding  the 
"Laws  of  God"  that  insinuates  doubt  and  dis- 
trust and  skepticism.  The  adult  skeptic  is  often 
merely  a  man  whose  moral  certainties,  in  their 
rudimentary  form  as  child-trusts,  have  either 
not  been  established  or  not  enlightened  in  his 
early  years.  The  more  precise  information  the 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  15 

child  obtains  about  the  elementary  phenomena 
and  the  more  it  is  induced  to  dare  to  be  trust- 
ful in  things  and  men,  the  richer  will  be  its 
eventual  religiousness. 

The  Hanukkah  Festival,  being  a  Festival  of 
Nature  and  at  the  same  time  having  historical 
content,  that  is  conveying  the  two-fold  "trust 
in  God,"  in  what  He  does  every  day  for  the 
things  we  see  and  handle  and  also  for  men 
whom  we  know  and  deal  with,  is  peculiarly 
fitted  as  an  educational  subject  to  bring  the  les- 
son of  confidence  to  beginners  in  life.  To  be 
sure,  both  "Nature"  and  "History"  and  "Con- 
fidence that  God  does  the  Right,"  are  subtle 
notions.  But  they  are  in  the  germ  in  every 
child-soul.  The  child  is  naively  trustful  in 
everybody  and  everything  and  its  frequent  mis- 
placements of  confidence  do  not  in  the  least 
disconcert  or  discourage  it.  So  persistent  in 
virtue  is  human  nature. 

Hanukkah  should  be  interpreted  for  the 
Kindergarten  Class  as  a  Lesson  in  Confidence 
(not  Self-confidence),  in  Confidence  in  all  that 
goes  on  about  us. 

The  frown  yields  to  a  smile,  anger  to  affec- 
tion, and  wrongs  are  righted.  (The  Syrians 
represent  the  one,  the  Israelites  the  other,  as 
it  were) . 


16  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

The  Syrians  go  their  way  and  the  Israelites 
theirs. 

And  the  end  is,  "The  Israelites  are  happy 
ever  after."  But  all  this  must  be  founded  not 
on  meaningless  beatitudes,  but  on  the  convic- 
tion that  it  is  right  to  expect  the  good.  The 
winter  is  cold  and  trying,  but  it  brings  spring 
and  the  flowers.  The  winter  night  is  dark  and 
long,  but  when  we  put  up  lights  which  lengthen 
the  day  and  shorten  the  night,  we  have  at  once 
cheer. 

The  Maccabbean  Story  is  a  picture  of  life  in 
general.  It  is  not  a  "historic"  incident  and  the 
struggle  of  paganism  against  monotheism 
should  not  be  dwelt  on  now. 

Judas  is  merely  the  trustful  and  courageous 
child  written  large.  And  Jonathan  is  another 
type  of  child-optimism.  Hannah  and  her  chil- 
dren are  the  child's  mother  and  its  brother  and 
sister.  What  good  child  would  not  do  just  what 
its  mother  wants  it  to  do?  The  King  is  the 
Tempter,  and  he  is  more  foolish  than  mean  to 
try  to  disuade  the  child  from  his  loyalty. 

One  effective  department  of  Moral  Educa- 
tion is  to  endorse  right  instincts. 

This  Child-Confidence  is  the  germ  out  of 
which  grows  the  moral  character.  It  makes  for 
optimism,  for  all  those  feelings  of  approach 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  17 

which,  in  their  developed  form,  we  call  social, 
and  it  prepares  in  the  sphere  of  religion  for 
certainties  of  belief.  All  later  character-build- 
ing in  the  school  and  home  takes  it  for  granted 
and  must  count  on  it  as  active  in  the  child.  The 
teacher  can  help  only  that  child  that  believes 
in  him,  and  only  those  children  grow  morally 
whose  hearts  are  open  in  frank  receptiveness. 


18  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

GRADES  THREE  AND  FOUR. 

In  Grades  Three  and  Four  the  Lesson  should 
refer  to  the  Love  of  Home. 

The  Maccabbean  Story  is  a  Lesson  of  the 
Love  of  Home,  what  men  want  to  do  and  are 
willing  to  bear,  for  the  sake  of  the  love  they 
have  for  their  own  people. 

Nobody  can  estrange  them  from  their  Home. 
The  bad  men  (the  Syrians)  tried  it.  But  they 
could  not.  The  Home  is  the  place  where  men 
and  women  are  contented.  There  they  are 
happy  in  one  another.  And  God  is  there. 

The  Hanukkah  Story  is  now  not  a  Lesson  in 
Loyalty  to  Monotheism  or  of  faithful  adher- 
ence to  the  Law  of  God,  but  it  is  a  Lesson  how 
men  do  hard  things  cheerfully  for  the  sake  of 
their  families. 

In  the  account  there  should  be  no  battles 
and  no  campaigns,  and  Judas  Maccabbeus  is 
not  a  war-hero,  but  just  simply  a  prototype  of 
the  child's  father,  an  idealized  father  (this,  of 
course,  without  blunt  statement).  And  the 
father  from  the  point  of  view  of  what  he  does, 
not  according  to  the  sordid  standard  which  the 
child  knows  already  too  well,  but  from  the  high 
standard,  what  strong  deeds,  deeds  of  moral 
stamina,  the  father  does. 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  19 

And  so  also  as  to  the  nobilities  of  the  mother. 
So  the  Story  of  Hannah.  Avoid  the  bloody 
martyrdom.  Hannah  is  sure  of  her  boys.  The 
King  frightens,  coerces  them,  but  the  boys  can- 
not be  tempted. 

The  "Persecution"  can  be  treated  thus : 

The  Jews  are  happy,  and  are  at  work  every 
day  and  God  is  pleased,  and  they  are  content. 
They  meet  in  the  streets  after  their  work  is 
done,  on  the  Sabbath  and  on  the  holidays.  And 
they  are  friends  and  they  are  true  to  one  an- 
other, and  they  are  peaceful  with  one  another. 
And  sometimes  they  go,  all  of  them,  to  the 
'  House  of  God,  to  their  Temple,  to  thank  Him 
for  all  the  good  they  are  enjoying.  (Make  this 
idyllic  life  as  graphic  as  your  imagination 
enables  you.) 

And  the  mean  men  come.  These  do  not  like 
to  see  the  people  of  Israel  happy.  They  do  not 
want  to  see  anybody  happy.  So  they  annoy  the 
•people.  Especially  when  the  Jews  are  in  the 
Temple,  for  then  they  are  happiest.  So  the 
mean  men  disturb  the  Jews  while  they  are 
praying  and  singing,  and  try  to  stop  them  and 
to  chase  them  away.  And  they  try  to  force  the 
Jews  to  do  wrong.  For  they  know  that  people 
who  do  wrong  become  unhappy.  But  the  Jews 


20  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

would  not  do  wrong.  They  said :  "We  love  our 
homes,"  and  the  children  said:  "We  love  our 
fathers  and  our  mothers."  And  the  fathers 
said :  "We  love  our  town  and  our  streets,  where 
we  walk  to  our  work  and  where  we  meet  as  we 
come  and  go  on  the  Sabbath.  And  we  love  one 
another,  because  everybody  does  what  is  right." 
And  one  day  the  mean  men  annoyed  them 
again,  and  the  fathers  got  angry  and  told  them 
to  go  and  drove  them  away.  And  when  the 
mean  men  saw  that  the  Jews  were  angry,  they 
became  afraid  and  ran  and  ran,  and  never 
came  back. 

This  is  about  the  form  the  Story  should  take. 
In  terms  of  what  children  see  on  their  own 
streets  and  experience  in  their  own  lives.  Only 
somewhat  idealized. 

It  is  the  contrast  between  the  ugly,  mean 
facts  which  children  cannot  help  but  observe 
and  the  Utopia  which  children  also  dream. 
And  Religion,  not  "politics,"  should  initiate 
this  Utopistic  dreaming.  And  the  child- 
Utopia  should  be  within  the  moral  experiences 
of  child-life.  The  child  should  feel  the  domestic 
serenities  which  are  the  base  of  all  social  good. 

The  Hanukkah  Lights  are  home-illumina- 
tions. The  Cruse  of  Holy  Oil  may  be  found  in 
the  Home.  It  is  there  somewhere.  Who  will 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  21 

look  for  it  and  who  will  find  it?  That  Light 
that  makes  everybody  glad  is,  not  Religion,  but 
Religiousness.  It  typifies,  not  Faith,  but  the 
faithful  child. 

And  so  with  the  rest  of  the  Hanukkah 
Stories.  What  teacher  does  not  wish  there  were 
more  of  them ! 

The  Home,  however,  must  not  be  repres- 
ented, as  it  usually  is,  as  a  place  of  comfort  or 
parental  solicitude  and  so  on.  Leave  that  form 
of  the  treatment  to  a  later  Grade.  This  festive 
occasion  demands  an  emotional  form  of  pres- 
entation. Stir  feeling  by  way  of  suggestion. 
Touch  up  the  emotion,  the  joyous  feeling  about 
the  Home,  by  imagination.  There  is  a  time 
when  a  virtue  is  brought  home  to  children  not 
merely  as  profitable,  or  desirable,  or  reason- 
able, or  necessary,  or  dutiful,  but  as  natural 
sentimentalism.  Once  at  least,  let  the  child  get 
the  enthusiasm  direct  and  warm  through  its 
own  impulsiveness.  In  fact,  this  spontaneous 
enthusiasm  is  the  best  part  of  the  child's  love 
of  Home,  or  else  the  love  and  the  loyalty  would 
be  mere  afterthought  and  would  fade  out  with 
the  changes  of  life. 

Hanukkah  with  its  domestic  entertainments 
and  family-festivities,  is  an  opportunity  for  the 
fostering  of  loyalties. 


22  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 


GRADES  FIVE  AND  SIX. 

In  Grades  Five  and  Six  we  advance  to  an- 
other educational  aim. 

The  Lesson  is  "To  do  what  is  right  before 
God  and  Man." 

The  Story  of  the  Maccabbeans  implies  moral 
stamina,  loyalty  to  the  Right  and  respect  for 
the  Truth. 

But  this  does  not  mean  belief  in  or  assertion 
of  "principles,"  but  the  moral  habit  of  being 
faithful  to  one's  self. 

It  does  not  involve  fidelity  to  a  sect  or  to  a 
nation.  It  simply  means  that  the  children  get 
the  prototype  of  real  honesty  and  genuine 
sincerity. 

Hanukkah  is  the  triumph  of  men  who  found 
it  hard  to  be  true,  but  did  remain  true  despite 
hardships.  True  to  themselves,  true  in  the  face 
of  opposition  and  temptation. 

The  Story  of  the  Maccabean  "orthodoxy"  is 
not  a  chapter  in  the  history  of  Religion,  and 
their  struggle  is  not  political.  It  is  simply 
human. 

The  Syrians  are  not  intolerant  idolators,  and 
the  Jews  are  not  inveterate  monotheists  and 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  23 

the  issue  is  neither  one  of  theology  nor  of 
politics. 

It  is  an  issue  in  which  honor  is  at  stake.  The 
Jews  stand  firm  because  they  respect  them- 
selves, because  they  respect  their  fathers,  be- 
cause they  wish  to  be  worthy  of  their  ancestry. 
They  have  a  standard  and  they  live  up  to  it. 

It  is  very  wrong  of  the  Syrians  to  worry  the 
Jews  and  to  browbeat  them.  The  Jews  honor 
their  fathers  who  are  true  and  conscientious 
men  and  want  to  do  what  these  did.  But  the 
Syrians  endeavor  to  divert  the  Jews  from  that. 
And  they  try  desperate  things.  The  Jews  were 
not  to  hold  to  what  their  fathers  held  and  not 
even  to  their  self-respect.  They  were  not  to 
keep  their  altars  pure  nor  their  bodies  clean. 
The  altars  were  to  be  soiled  by  the  hog,  and 
they  were  to  eat  what  they  abhor. 

It  is  an  attack  on  filial  reverence  and  on 
personal  dignity. 

The  Story  of  Hannah  is  a  story  of  how  those 
suffer  willingly  who  want  to  keep  their  honor 
inviolate.  Of  course,  avoid  the  goriness  o^ 
the  original  version,  which  is  probably  an 
ancient  form  of  rhetoric  merely  to  make  the 
story  impressive. 

The  Cruse  of  Fine  Oil  sealed  by  the  High 
Priest.  Real  Aristocracy. 


24  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

Avoid  the  other  side — Pretentiousness. 

The  Shamash  and  how  he  sets  all  the  Lights 
aglow. 

Worth  and  Self-respect  are  based  on  what 
service  we  render.  Not  the  place,  but  the  man- 
hood. 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  25 

GRADES  SEVEN  AND  EIGHT. 

The  Lesson  for  the  Seventh  and  Eighth 
Grades  is  Loyalty  to  kindred. 

The  "People"  is  merely  kindred  writ  large. 

The  Love  of  Home  grows  into  Love  of  the 
Country,  of  which  the  Home  is  a  part.  Part 
in  the  getting  of  benefits  and  part  in  the  mak- 
ing of  them. 

And  loyalty  is  identification  with  the  com- 
mon cause.  Realizing  that  we  touch  one  an- 
other's lives  at  essential  points.  Loyalty  is  not 
looking  within  and  feeling  certain  obligations 
in  one's  own  conscience,  but  choosing  a  duty 
which  we  ought  and  can  fulfill  as  members  of 
a  large  family. 

It  appeals  to  the  larger  self,  it  is  the  pro- 
jection of  the  self  into  sympathies  and,  if  need 
be,  antipathies  and  builds  up  association  and 
co-operation. 

It  is  not  wrong  to  establish  loyalties  and  to 
start  up  pre-occupations  for  certain  moral 
ends,  in  favor  of  some  people ;  and  it  is  equally 
not  wrong,  on  the  contrary  it  is  quite  human 
and  right,  to  set  the  heart  sturdily  against 
wrong,  and  to  establish  the  hate  of  injustice 
and  immorality. 

There  should  be  strong,  though  well-con- 
trolled emotions  on  the  side  of  both  admiration 


26  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

and  disdain.  They  are  healthy  feelings  in  the 
nature  of  really  moral  men.  There  must 
come  a  time  to  every  normal  man  when  he 
hates  the  ugly  and  the  wrong  just  as  much  as 
he  loves  the  beautiful  and  the  good.  , 

This  is  the  way  to  account  for  "religious" 
war  (such  as  the  War  of  the  Maccabbeans) . 

Children  at  this  epoch  of  their  moral  devel- 
opment are  given  to  assertiveness,  which  is  not 
so  much  obstinacy  and  conceit  as  it  is  an 
indication  that  their  moral  discrimination  is 
sharpening. 

The  Syrians  are  viewed  as  enemies  of  what 
is  valuable  to  life.  They  have  attacked,  not  the 
conscience  of  worshipers  in  Palestine,  but  the 
culture  and  the  peace  of  men. 

Freedom  is  conceived  in  the  large  sense,  free 
to  be  true,  to  be  helpful,  free  to  be  at  one's  best. 
Religion  and  religiousness  lapse  into  the  moral 
field. 

» Confidence  in  God  is  equal  to  confidence  in 
the  divine  in  ourselves. 

This  is  Belief.  This  is  Worship.  And  this 
was  attacked.  And  this  the  Maccabbeans  de- 
fended and  upheld. 

Of  course,  all  this  must  be  presented  to  the 
pupils  with  every  possible  avoidance  of 
abstract  terms  and  argumentation.  It  is  the 
view-point  of  the  teacher. 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  27 

The  co-incidence  of  Hanukkah  with  Christ- 
mas superinduces  a  problem.  It  is  a  question 
of  opportunism  rather  than  of  principle.  For 
both  pupil  and  teacher  are  quite  clear  that 
there  is  an  irreconcilable  difference  between 
these  festivals. 

It  certainly  does  not  help  matters  to  meet 
the  condition  by  outright  condemnation  of 
what  is  so  popular  and  attractive.  The  Christ- 
mas season  is  altogether  non-Christian.  Most 
of  it  is  pagan,  and  it  is  the  pagan  side  of  the 
festival  that  is  fascinating  to  children.  But 
this  saving  grace  of  the  love  of  nature  and 
mystery  constitutes  "paganism"  and  is  a  prim- 
ordial trait  of  all  childhood,  and  in  this  Jewish 
childhood  ought  not  to  be  an  exception. 

It  is  this  "natural"  sense  about  it  that  may 
come  to  the  rescue  of  the  Jewish  festival. 

There  are  two. ways  to  bring  Hanukkah  to 
its  rights.  One  is  to  lift  it  into  a  significance 
of  its  own.  But  not  by  spurious  imitation  of 
the  Christian  festival,  but  rather  by  giving  it  a 
meaning  and  a  form  in  keeping  with  its  Jewish 
content  and  making  it  so  forceful  that  it  will 
stand  out  by  itself  against  the  foil  of  a  competi- 
tor. The  other  way  is  to  give  to  the  Hanukkah 
Festival  that  which  it  lacks,  when  contrasted 
with  the  Christmas,  and  that  which  Jewish 


28  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

Childhood  has  a  right  to  get:  an  opportunity 
for  the  exercise  of  the  normal  interest  in 
Nature.  This  Judaism  has  neglected  and  can- 
not afford  any  longer  to  withhold.  If  our  chil- 
dren are  to  be  well-balanced  in  moral  and  reli- 
gious interests,  if  they  are  not  to  be  what  their 
fathers  were,  merely  believers  in  God  and  not 
enthusiastic  lovers  of  God's  world,  if  their  in- 
stincts and  impulses  and  even  passions  are  to 
be,  as  they  should  be,  tools'  for  a  normal  and 
well-sustained  life,  they  must  be  brought  face 
to  face  with  God's  Nature.  They  must  learn 
to  love  the  seasons  and  see  God  in  them,  must 
see  God  in  snow  and  storm  and  the  pale  light 
of  wintry  skies,  in  summer's  sun  and  clouds 
and  the  whispering  trees. 

And  in  this  direction  the  Hanukkah  Festival 
is  full  of  possibilities. 

It  awaits  a  restoration  and  has  within  itself 
the  means  for  it:  A  vigorous  story,  dramatic 
incidents,  strong  personalities,  fine  home- 
scenes,  abundance  of  imagery,  plenty  of  tra- 
ditional customs,  home-cheer  (witness  the 
"Trendele,"  etc.),  cheerful  child-play,  (for  in- 
stance, the  "hopping  over  the  Hanukkah 
Lights")  and  the  illumination  which  has  its 
origin,  like  the  Christmas  Tree,  in  the  human 
interest  in  the  victory  of  life  over  death. 

There  is  one  additional  aspect  of  the  Festival 


HANUKKAH   FESTIVAL.  29 

which  must  be  considered.  Hanukkah  is  in  the 
main  a  Home  Festival.  And  that  it  ought  to 
remain.  In  these  days  when  business  and  social 
life  make  inroads  upon  the  calm  and  the  in- 
tegration of  the  Home,  we  need  a  solemn  re- 
minder that  the  home  is  the  one  eternally 
classic  fact  of  life.  In  this  Christmas  was  at 
one  time  a  formidable  competitor,  but  it  has 
ceased  to  be  that  since  the  celebrations  have 
become  social  and  public.  And  it  is  in  this 
point  that  the  Jewish  teacher  has  a  mission. 
Modern  Judaism  needs  a  Return  Homeward. 
Like  the  rest  of  the  modern  world,  the  Jew's 
daily  life  is  tangential,  away  from  his  house- 
hold. It  was  his  domesticity  that  saved  the  Jew 
in  ages  past,  and  his  gradual  lapse  from  that 
domestic  loyalty  is  his  peril  today.  It  is  a 
serious  mistake  to  reduce  Jewish  Holidays, 
such  as  Hanukkah,  to  the  lower  level  of  school 
exercises  and  school-entertainments.  The 
proper  place  for  Jewish  festivities  is  the  Home. 
It  is  an  educational  error  also  to  believe  that 
"treats"  have  any  logical  connections  with  the 
lessons  of  a  Holy  Day,  or  that  religious  influ- 
ences go  by  way  of  Candies  and  Gifts.  It  is 
association  of  feeling  with  the  donor  that 
makes  a  gift  valuable.  No  less  with  children 
than  with  adults.  The  happiness  which  is 
boiled  up  by  the  artificial  heat  of  a  present  boils 


30  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

down  just  as  quickly.  Gifts  are  the  incidents 
but  not  the  center  of  a  holiday.  Here  a  little 
thought  on  the  part  of  the  parent  is  in  place. 

As  to  School  Festivals  this  must  be  said: 
They  should  have  connection  with  the  lessons 
and  the  work  done  in  the  school.  There  should 
be  a  logical  relation  between  them.  Any  other 
is  a  disturbance.  And  School-Festivals  should 
never  crowd  out  Home-Celebrations.  These 
should  have  precedence,  for  Home  is  the  center 
of  all  morality,  of  all  religion  and  of  all  edu- 
cation. 

Conventional  Hanukkah  School  Celebrations 
are  a  doubtful  good.  They  are  indiscriminate 
in  means,  unorganized  in  plan,  and  unpointed 
in  purpose.  They  are  meant  to  bring  hap- 
piness, whereas  they  pamper  only  with  "sweets" 
and  "treats."  They  ought,  in  reality,  be  the 
climax  of  the  Lesson,  they  should  create  that 
elation  of  feeling  which  it  is  in  the  spirit  of  the 
festival  to  bestow. 

Let  each  class  express  its  respective  festive 
sense,  its  child-aspiration  in  some  formal  form 
of  worship.  In  that  restore  the  Melody  char- 
acteristic of  the  Day. 

And  let  the  Service  of  the  Day  not  be  routine 
Prayer  and  routine  Devotion,  as  of  every  other 
day,  but  crisp  and  happy  and  fresh.  For  the 
Festival  is  a  Feast  and  a  Joy. 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  31 


THE  ADOLESCENT  CLASS. 

The  final  Lesson  in  the  Story  of  the  Maccab- 
beans  is  "Manhood." 

Stand  out  and  be  a  man.  And  use  your  man- 
hood not  merely  for  the  business  of  your  life, 
though  that  is  right,  but  for  something  which 
you  see  with  your  mind's  eye,  far  ahead  of  you, 
and  you  yourself  may  not  be  able  to  grasp  (an 
ideal). 

Here  each  one  of  the  Maccabbean  characters 
comes  to  his  own,  the  old  Matatthias  and  the 
simple  heroes  of  Modin,  Judas  the  strong, 
Jonathan  the  daring,  Simon  the  suave. 
Various  kinds  of  moral  strength.  Heroism 
need  not  be  pose,  nor  always  dramatic.  It  is 
the  inner,  the  self-contained  quality  which 
makes  heroic  strength.  It  is  not  good  pedagogy 
to  stencil  all  children  with  the  same  moral  im- 
print. Some  of  the  class  will  take  to  Judas, 
some  to  Jonathan,  some  to  Simon.  Each  ab- 
sorbs the  moral  food  he  needs.  The  story  is 
replete  with  moral  varieties. 

And  not  only  the  personalities  but  also  the 
moral  situations  of  heroism  vary.  Some  are 
brave  in  the  open  field  in  fight.  Some  in  endur- 
ance, in  piety.  Some  are  loyal  in  orthodoxy 


32  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

(they  would  not  fight  on  the  Sabbath) .  Chil- 
dren at  this  age  are  given  to  a  kind  of  '"orth- 
odoxy," to  scrupulousness,  which,  if  rightly 
directed,  is  capable  of  contributing  much  to  the 
development  of  character. 

The  Hanukkah  Lights  number  eight.  Each 
stands  out  by  iself.  And. all  are  in  a  line  to- 
gether. So  every  pupil  in  the  class  is  a  moral 
personality.  The  sympathetic  and  observant 
teacher  will  discover  wonders  of  idealisms  and 
of  moral  ambitions,  represented  by  the  pupils 
of  his  class. 

And  the  Shamash  lights  the  lights.  The 
humblest  has  his  place  and  his  power. 

Sometimes  a  man  seems  insignificant,  but 
there  comes  an  occasion  into  his  life  when  he 
evinces  moral  strength  and  surprises  and  de- 
lights his  friends. 

And  the  Jew ;  he  is  the  Shamash  in  the  Cul- 
ture of  the  World.  He  sets  the  Light  aglow  in 
many  places. 

Thus  the  teacher  may  convey  graphically  the 
Lesson  that  each  one  should  and  can,  if  he 
will,  make  his  life  tell. 

The  boy  has  admirations.  That  is  his  finest 
promise  in  moral  growth.  Admiration  means 
taking  copy  from  the  worthy.  It  means  emu- 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  33 

lation  and  effort.     It  evokes  concentration  of 
thought  and  a  moral  ambition. 

Hanukkah  offers  the  occasion  and  the  op- 
portunity. Judaism  should  and  can  be  born 
in  the  boy  as  an  ardor.  It  is  nothing  if  it  does 
not  become  impetuous.  The  adult  Jew  is 
stoical  enough.  At  least  youth  may  have 
the  intoxication  of  his  faith.  Admiration  is  a 
salutary  excitement.  Cultivate  it. 

WHAT  TO  READ. 

Graetz,  History  of  the  Jews,  Vol.  II. 

The  Apocrypha,  Books  of  the  Maccabees. 

Article  "Maccabbees"  in  the  Jewish  Encyclo- 
pedia, Vol.  VIII. 

Montefiore,  Bible  for  Home  Reading,  Vol.  II., 
pages  718  ff. 

Abrahams,  Jewish  Life  in  the  Middle  Ages, 
pages  385  ff. 

The  Function  of  Light  in  Life  and  Culture. 

The  Symbolism  of  Light  in  Jewish  Ritual,  the, 
Ner  Tamid. 

Winter  and  its  significance  in  the  Economy 
of  Life. 

The  tree  and  its  symbolism. 

Nature  Myths  on  Winter. 


34  HANUKKAH   FESTIVAL. 

Heroism  and  its  moral  content. 

Loyalty  and  its  bearing  on  Home  and  on 
Country. 

Josiah  Royce,  Loyalty. 

The  Traditional  Prayer  Book,  Service  for 
Hanukkah. 

Dembitz,  Jewish  Services  in  Synagogue,  see 
art.  Hanucca  in  Index. 

The  Union  Prayer  Book,  Service  for  Hanuk- 
kah. 

The  Melody  for  Hanukkah  in  article  "Maoz 
Zur"  in  the  Jewish  Encyclopedia,  Vol.  VIII. 


HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL.  85 

CHILDREN'S    "BENEDICTIONS"    AT 

THE    KINDLING   OF   THE 

HANUKKAH  LIGHTS. 

1.  This  is  the  smallest  of  these  Lights.    It 
will  start  all  and  make  them  burn.     Perhaps 
you  think  you  are  too  small  to  do  anything 
good  for  others.    You  can,  if  you  try. 

2.  I  light  the  first  of  the  Lights.  They  would 
not  burn,  if  this  would  not  start  them.     God 
gave  life  to  us  and  we  are  glad  and  happy  in  it 
only  because  He  gave  it  to  us. 

3.  I  light  the  second  of  the  Lights,  and  now 
two  are  burning,  one  like  the  other.    So  father 
and  mother  are  with  us,  equal  in  our  love. 

4.  I  light  the  third  Light.  It  stands  for  me, 
for  I  wish  to  be  where  my  parents  are  and  to 
be  like  them  as  much  as  I  can. 

5.  I  light  the  fourth  Light,  and  I  think  of 
my  brother  and,  may  be,  you  think  of  your 
sister.  They  love  us  and  we  love  them  and  we 
can  make  life  bright  for  one  another. 

6.  Five  Lights  are  new  burning.  Two  stand 
for  father  and  mother,  two  for  you  and  me, 
and  this  one  is  for  our  teacher,  whom  God 
may  bless. 


80  HANUKKAH  FESTIVAL. 

7.  Six  days  thou  shalt  labor !    We  do  what 
we  can  at  home  and  in  school.     Our  parents 
give  us  our  daily  bread  and  everybody  is  kind 
to  us.     God  be  thanked  for  the  comforts  and 
joys  we  have,  and  for  the  light  which  is  upon 
our  life. 

8.  I  kindle  the  seventh  Light.     Think  of 
the  Seventh  Day  in  each  week.    The  Sabbath 
Day  is  holy.    It  is  a  day  of  peace.    On  it  we  go 
to  God's  Temple  and  thank  Him  for  His  kind- 
ness to  us.    Into  the  Temple  the  Maccabbeans 
went,  after  God  had  helped  them.    There  they 
praised  Him,  and  so  we  praise  Him,  for  He 
helps  also  us. 

9.  Eight  days  long  the  Lights  burned  in  the 
homes  of  our  Fathers,  and  eight  days  long  they 
rejoiced.     One  little  flask  of  sacred  oil  was 
enough  to  illumine  the  Temple  and  to  keep 
it  bright.    So  each  one  of  us  may  gladden  those 
with  whom  we  are,  and  the  Light  within  our 
heart  may  make  bright  all  who  are  about  us. 

10.  May  the  God  of  Israel  aid  us,  so  that 
we  be  faithful  to  God,  to  Israel,  and  to  the 
good  people  with  whom  we  are. 


University  of  Cattjajjjj  ^ 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY^  951 


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